Geographic Variation in Racial Disparities in Age-Adjusted Mortality Rates in Mississippi

Racial disparities in mortality rates have been well-documented in the last century. Intersectionality theory has helped to identify the root causes of these health disparities. Few studies have examined disparities using the latest data for the state of Mississippi.

Mortality data for the state of Mississippi (MS) were obtained from the vital statistics program of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention for years 1999-2020. The age-adjusted mortality rate (AAMR) for ages 35-84 years was calculated by county, gender-male (M) vs female (F), and race-black (B) vs white (W), among non-Hispanics (NH) for all causes of death.

In 2020, MS had the highest AAMR per 100,000 among states in the US: 1624.76 (1605.61-1643.91) for age group 35-84. In 1999-2020 combined, AAMR varied among counties for each gender-race group. High AAMR was concentrated in the delta region for NH black males (NHBM) and females (NHBF). This was less so for NH white males (NHWM) and not so for females (NHWF). The Black/White AAMR ratio among males and females was highest (1.42, 1.36) in the small metropolitan areas and lowest (1.18, 1.05) in the large fringe metropolitan areas. In 1999-2020 for NH males, the ratio of AAMR in NHB to NHW varied from 0.9 to 1.8. In NH females, the ratio varied from 0.9 to 2.2. In both genders, the ratio was significantly correlated with the percent of the population that was NH black.

The AAMR in MS varied greatly among counties as did the Black/White ratio of AAMR. Further research is needed to explain this geographic variation in racial disparity.